Swing to the Great American Songbook at Mt. Lebanon Library
Jennifer McNulty is lead vocalist for the Boilermaker Jazz Band.
Jeff Bush and his trusty trombone
Following in the footsteps of jazz bandleaders like Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Jack Teagarden, musician Jeff Bush blows a mean trombone.
That wasn’t quite his first instrumental choice, though.
“My fifth-grade band director said, ‘You’ve got long arms and you’re tall, so you’re getting this,'” Bush recalled.
So he put aside the banjo and piano he’d been playing to focus on working the slide, and the switch has paid off handsomely, with the Westmoreland County native compiling a résumé of working with a variety of music legends, from supporting Pittsburgh-born pianist Ahmad Jamal to touring the world as lead trombonist in Harry Connick Jr.’s band.
Bush brings his talents to the South Hills from 7 to 9 p.m. July 8 for Mt. Lebanon Public Library’s “Stardust Swing: An Evening in the Garden with the Boilermaker Jazz Band.” For the event, which serves as a prelude to the library’s 27th annual garden tour the following day, he leads a quartet configuration of the band featuring lead vocalist Jennifer McNulty.
“We’re going to focus a lot on the Great American Songbook,” he said, featuring enduring compositions by the likes of Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, and George and Ira Gershwin.
“You might hear some tunes from the big bands of Count Basie or Duke Ellington, or maybe a Benny Goodman or two,” Bush, an adjunct instructor of jazz studies at Duquesne University, continued. “But we’ll try to play to the crowd. If someone says, ‘Hey, can we hear such-and-such,’ we’ll do our best to keep folks happy.”
Big Band-era selections fit in with one of the themes of the Stardust Swing, which kicks off a series of events to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the library’s founding in 1932, along with marking 20 years since it reopened following a $4.2 million renovation.
The July 8 soirée will take place primarily in the library garden, which is meticulously maintained by a dedicated committee of about a dozen volunteers, led by chairwoman Nancy Smith. The library’s board of trustees will provide desserts, lemonade, lemonade cocktails and wine.
Those in attendance can swing to the music of a well-established, nationally recognized group of musicians. The Boilermaker Jazz Band, founded and led by Pittsburgh clarinetist Paul Cosentino, has performed at major venues internationally and released 11 albums, most recently “Slipped Disc” in 2015.
Bush played on that recording and also has a solo release, “Ain’t So Bad to Swing.” The Manhattan School of Music alumnus returned to Western Pennsylvania from New York City in 2008 to raise his family, settling in Upper Burrell Township.
“A few years after that, someone recommended me to Paul. We did a few dates,” and he’s been a Boilermaker Jazz Band member ever since.
The band prides itself on the versatility to meet many performing needs, from solo piano to a full seven pieces.
“Everyone is flexible,” Bush said. “That’s one of the names of the game in the 21st century, is your flexibility.”
Even when you’re playing music from way, way back in the 20th century.
Visit www.mtlebanonlibrary.org/464/Stardust-Swing and www.boilermakerjazzband.com.